The Others Stories
by PU4788
Summary: A year and a half under the Terran's guidance. The Colonials are begin to rebuild their civilization on New Caprica. But at what price?
1. Chapter 1

The Others Stories

By PU4788

Disclaimer: most of the things in here are not my creations and it should stay that way.

Chapter 1: The Return of the Sun.

_New Caprica._

The sun was rising. Its ray of warm light creeping thought the curtain and made the two bodies sleeping in the bed glowing like golden statues.

He popped his eyes open but shut them off again when he saw the ray of light. He instinctively tightened his embrace around his companion. Even after a year and a half, he still couldn't get enough of touching her, feeling her skin, her warmth. Those months of separation made him long after her touch. He thought that it was his way of making up for lost time. He wished that this moment could last forever.

"Karl"

He heard she say his name. He ignored her and pretended to be sleeping.

"Karl"

He heard her voice again. So warm. So love. So…Sharon. He felt her body trying to slip away from his embrace. He tightened it.

"Karl!"

An elbow jabbed to his rib, in a playful way of elbowing. He opened his eyes and started to protest. But he saw that she was smiling and put her finger at his lip. He smiled while she leaned over to kiss his forehead. He loves this moment. He loves every single one of it. He felt her get off the bed, going out of the room. And he missed her already, he grinned. He laid there on the bed, letting the sunlight warm him. There's something about sunlight that he like. After spending many days, months, years in the Galactica's artificial light, he thought that he may will never really feeling the warmth of sunlight without worrying about war or losing his life under it again.

He laid there, warming himself in it. But he knew he couldn't just lie there all day. The time was dwindling and he has many things to do this day. He hopped off the bed and going to the bathroom. Halfway through it he stopped and looking at himself in the mirror. He hadn't changed much. After all, it was only a year and a half. But the lacking of his tag made it more real. What made the most impact was his surrounding. This was his, scratched that, their, own bathroom. No more group shower, no more waiting, no more 'in or out'. This was their bathroom and their alone. Even the little thing like the ability to be naked while he was shaving was rang home to him that life is returning to normal.

As normal as it can be.

He got into the kitchen. The smell of cooking bacons and eggs hit his nostril and made his mouth watered. Not to mention his stomach. His eyes darted to the two figures at the table and felt his chest knotted with emotions, again. No matter how many time passed, he knew he'll always feel that way about them. The sight of Hera alone, sitting there, safe and sound on the baby-chair in his kitchen, waiting for her breakfast, would be enough to make him cry. She will always be special, always has a place in his heart. No matter what.

His eyes focused on another figure. So small. So fragile. Liam has his eyes and his look, but he got Sharon's hair, and maybe, hopefully, brain. Then there's Sharon, standing there over the stoves, cooking their breakfast. He looked at three of them together. The scene was so sickeningly domestic, so reminding him of his childhood, and he would never trade all of these for anything.

"Will you eat your breakfast?" Sharon's voice breakthrough his bliss and returning him to the planet. He looked at her and smiled. He picked up the fork and start eating his bacons. Real bacons, made from real meat, and not frozen. He savored the taste and thanked to the gods, Kobol, Cylon or Terrans.

"So, what's the schedule?" Sharon asked him while trying to feed Hera, Liam and herself at the same time. He'd learned long ago not to interfere with her morning ritual.

"Around thirteen-hundred hours, I think" Something would never die, like the soldier in him, or part of it. "But since I have to go to the store to pick up and order stuffs, I think I will have to rush if I want to get there in time"

"So eat your stuffs and rush" She told him, and he did.

After that he kissed them goodbye, and return into the sunlight.

But as Karl Agathon was near New Caprica City, driving in this Terran-made 'automobile', on the left side of the road, his mood got darkened. The City, more likely town, was thriving. It was a success, nothing like the disaster that had been the faraway mess on the former New Caprica. There're buildings, solid and real. Houses, stores, schools, offices, everything that make a city worth its name.

Even that, he hated going there. He could still feel it. The stare, the look, the talk-behind-his-back, it seemed that they had followed him from Galactica to the planet. He felt they were double when he and his family come to the town. And like on Galactica, they ignored them.

And as he was near Government Square, he nearly turned his car back. There's a large group of people gathering there. While it was normal to have a large group of peoples there, it's a square after all, what made him feel very uneasy was that he recognized that group. It's that Gemeneses and their growing supporters/followers. On the edge of the Square were the nervously looking units from New Caprica Police Department and a few men he recognized as the Terran Ground Force, listening to the group that was vigorously denouncing them.

Trying his best to drive as faraway as possible from the Square itself, he was happy to finally park his car near that 'neoclassical' building that housed most of the Terran governmental agencies. He quickly showed his ID to enter the building as soon as possible. Once inside, he felt relatively safe again when he saw many Terrans and Colonials walking hurriedly down the hall. Some visitors like him, some working here. Many Colonials had found their careers as desk clerks, receptionists, janitors or whatever the Terrans outsourcing to them. He recognized many faces from Galactica or Pegasus here too, but as usual, he ignored them. They were among the worst anyway.

He went to the second floor, or the third floor for colonials system. The Terrans have a strange ways of their own and this is one of them. He shook his head. As he entered the office, he recognized one face immediately. He hurried down to her table, relieve that at least he could do this without having to suppress his anger.

"Hi" He said, as the woman looking up at him from her papers.

"Hi" Anastasia Dualla returned his greeting with a warm smile. They didn't know or interact with each other much when they both still onboard the Galactica. When they first met again on the planet, in this same office, he'd felt really awkward, knowing that he's still in contact with Lee and knowing that she knew it. But her friendly, non-hostile manner toward him made him surprise, and grateful. But they didn't become friend or anything, there's this rift that they each couldn't cross to become friend. But at least they felt good about what they have right now.

"How're you?" He asked, and brought his bag to his lap.

"Fine" She answered and handed him a paper. He quickly filled the form.

"And how's the husband doing?"

"Castor's fine. Doing great, really" She received his form and typed them into her computer. There's a silence after his question, minus the sound of the keyboard. But nothing unusual. It was their routine questions anyway.

"The Yellow Form?" He quickly handed her his forms from the bag. She grabbed it and started typing again.

"Nervous?" She looked away from her screen with puzzled eyes. Karl tilted his head to the window that looking down the Government Square. She frowned.

"Fanatic idiots" She snorted. "I think I should ask you more with that question"

He shrugged. "Can't go back without picking stuffs anyway"

She shot him a concerning look. "Just finish your errands and go back home. OK? They think that it might get worse by noon" She handed him back a paper.

"What's this?" He asked.

"A seminar. Next week and be here" She said as he started to stand up. They said goodbye, wishing good health for their other parts. And as he was about to left, she grabbed his hand. "Be careful, Karl" He smiled and waved his hand.

When he left the building, he could see that she was right. The crowd had gotten much bigger and the speeches were becoming more and more violence. He paced quickly to his car, face down, trying his best to blend in with other walkers. And as the topic was turn to the Cylons, he reached his car and sped away.

After that, he just went on his usual business. He drove to Aikawa's, New Caprica largest store. It's owned by Terran so they have more access to much stuff that the colonials operated one didn't have or have to order it with more expensive prices. Many things were simple goods like diapers, paper, stationary equipments, but also many luxurious things like Terran wine, beer and other liquors. After picking up his groceries and supplied and loaded them into his car, he looked at his watch and cursed. It's almost 13.00 and he had to drive to the other side of the city.

The spaceport, if you could call it that, wasn't big or grand like its predecessor on Caprica, but it serve its purpose nonetheless. It'd welcome many officials, and immigrants, to the planet since its beginning of operation. Since there was still a limitation to the Colonials on space-traveling, it was primarily a military zone. And you could see it as you was about to enter the area. Soldiers, fence, checking post, all of it were there. He'd to send in a form for days before he could enter the area. Inside, it was simply a group of buildings with a large field to park spacecrafts, and that's it.

And when they announced that the 13.00 flight had arrived, he felt nervous. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure about this, but he knew he had to. At least they had made peace with each other, and now, ironically, had fallen into the same situation. But that knowledge had done nothing to ease his nervousness. It' just grew when he saw that the passengers had starting to pass by him.

Then he saw him. Even among the crowd, he could see him. The color of the Terrans cadet uniform had made sure of that. Karl just swallowed hard when the young man was finally in front of him. A silence was ensured between the two. Both were feeling awkward to start saying something first. Then Karl made the first move.

"Hi, Lee"

End Chapter


	2. Chapter 2

The Others Stories

Disclaimer: most of the things in here are not my creations and it should stay that way.

Chapter 2: Healing Old Wounds.

After greeting each other, the two men just stared at each other in silence. Karl looked at Apollo, no, Lee, hard. It was the first time that they saw each other in person after the Resettlement. Physically, the man before him didn't change much. Mentally, he had no idea. At least the lack of thinner-than-veil insults was indicating that Lee had changed. For better or worse, he hoped that at least it would be good for him and his family. Otherwise, their effort would be for nothing.

He scratched his head. Lee was still a military man. Even now, in the uniform of the Terrans cadet, he had to admit that it fit Lee. He couldn't imagine the man living out of military life. The Old Man had sealed it to his son. But now, that was the problem.

"Couldn't you change before you depart or something?" He asked, nervously. When Lee's eyebrows raised up, Karl just continued. "You don't intend to walk around wearing that, right? You know, some of us won't be happy seeing that uniform, especially on you"

When Lee startled, then looked away briefly as if to think of something, some part in him felt regret at letting something like that came out of his mouth. But some part, a tiny part of him just felt happy and rejuvenated at having the chance to get back at his former CAG's harsh words in the past.

_Just one time, Karl_. He mentally told himself. _Just one time._

Lee looked at his uniform, and then looked up at him. His eyes couldn't hide his inner conflict and now Karl really felt regret saying that to him.

"They require that we wear this when we leave the Academy" Lee spoke, then looked away and grabbed his duffle bag. "I think I could just change in the restroom. You mind waiting a little bit?" He asked.

"Of course not" Karl spoke. At least he won't be seen as the Cylon Lover, Collaborator and Terran's Lap Dog at the same time. Beside, he didn't think that Lee would feel comfortable walking around in Terrans Uniform.

Lee took his duffle bag around his shoulder and walked to the restroom nearby. Karl just looked at Lee's back. He thought back to the first time that Lee had contacted him. He still remembered how surprise he felt and the looked on Sharon's face. He put his hand through his hair and sighed, and fell back to the chair behind him. Waiting.

* * *

As the wide, green field flew pass him, Lee didn't felt quite sure that he was doing the right thing. Time had come to a point that he had recognized his faults in the past. When he was first arrived at the Academy, he felt alienated. Not only that he was maybe older than most, if not all, of the cadets, he couldn't speak a word of _'English_', the Terrans standard language either. The all time presence of the automatic interpreter had made the other cadets knew that he was different. A New Meat from a new, and alien, system that just got a chance of building their own local force.

Even after he no longer needed it, he still couldn't fit in. No, his attitude prevented that. In that time, he couldn't embrace the prospect from reducing from a captain, a CAG. Hell, XO even into the lowly cadet again. It didn't help at all that some of the officers were even younger than him. And that turn his already precarious position among the cadets into a quick downward spiral. Suddenly, he turned from the New Meat into an 'IT'.

IT got into a fight again.

IT got another punishment again.

Why don't we just throw IT into the brig and see how long IT can survive without food?

Why am I always had to sit next to IT?

IT doesn't know IT's place here.

Being treated less than a human being was a real eye opener to him. At first, his attitude still persisted. He was an Adama after all. He thought that it was because they were Terrans and he was not was the reason that he was treated that way. At that time, he was beginning to realize how Sharon would have felt during her time on Galactica. To being treated as an enemy despite how many times she'd saved their asses. But unlike Sharon, he resisted, he had an option, he was still human. But after being hard handedly 'cajoled' by a group of cadets, he realized that the real reason for all of this was himself. It was him that had not allowed himself to standing with them on an equal ground. It was him that brought himself into this situation.

From that moment he had caste his attitude aside, one's attitude could get one so far. He worked hard. He tried to fit in. He HAD to fit in. And he succeeded. He had made himself a place among the cadets. As comrade. As friend. As an equal individual. He would never forget the time when the first cadet called him Adama. He had never imagined that he would be grateful when someone would called him that. And then he'd made amend, naturally, to the Agathons. The only peoples he suspected wouldn't mind talking to a turn-coat.

And now he was unsure. He was unsure that Helo and Athena could make amend. From his memory, he wouldn't make amend with himself either. And he was grateful that they want to try. Only they could understand the situation he was in now.

He glanced at the man in the driver seat. Their journey was long, too long in fact. He knew that Helo was avoiding New Caprica City, and he was happy for that. He didn't sure if he could face the former Galactica's crews without starting a fight. But what he didn't like was that the driving was too silent. In the past, this should be fine with him, but not now. He had to say something. Something.

"So, what are they called this?" He said. It was lame, he knew, but it's a start.

Karl just glanced at him for a brief time before turned back to the road. "What'd you mean?"

Lee tapped the car's door. "The car. How the Terrans called it?"

"I think they called it a _'Jeep'_. Weird, I know" Karl just spoke, but Lee could tell he was more relaxed. Lee looked at the view again. They were on a dirt road, with vast field filled with cattle and horses on both side. And faraway, he could line the crops fields too. It was such a beautiful sight that he had to say it out loud.

"It's a beautiful farm here" He said. The simple answer from his companion made him jerked and looked at Karl with wide eyes.

"Thanks" It was a simple answer, and yet, it said so many things. Lee just looked at Karl, dumbfounded.

"You mean…These all yours?" Lee said and turned his head around. Karl was a bit amused by Lee's unexpected childish manner. Even thought his eyes were still focused on the road, his eyes radiated pride and his face was threatened to turn into wide grin.

"Actually, it's mine and Sharon's. From down there to the river there. All start from brewing Ambrosia. Seem Uncle Lance's hobby isn't a total waste after all" He said, still looking fondly at his pride.

For a moment, Lee didn't know what to say. It's obvious that Karl was having a success civilian life, like he had before in military. He thought to himself, and he realized that he was really happy for them. If anyone deserves this, it's Karl and Sharon. For all that they had been through, they deserve at last a happiness.

Then he saw the house. He had heard Karl talk about it many times before. It was a simple country house, nothing big or special. One like you could find in the countryside on Picon or Scorpia. But he knew better, he knew that Karl almost built it by his own hands. How much effort and devotion the former ESO had put into it. And for the peoples who had lost almost everything, this was an accomplishment.

He was about to comment about it, when suddenly, the car jerked toward the house in a furious speed. Lee grabbed the car's side for balance as the driver ignored the path and instead, drove through the front lawn of the house. He looked at Karl and saw an almost panicked expression on his face, he turned his head to the house and he could guess why. In front of the house was a vessel. A Terrans designed vessel. He knew that vessel well. The Army's Messerschmitt 'Me-221' Light Transporter. His eyes got darkened; he was a navy man after all.

As the car suddenly stopped in front of the house, Karl was leaping from the car to the house in the speed he had never seen before. He quickly followed Karl, more to prevent him from getting in trouble than to help the man out.

"Sharon!" Karl shouted, trying to reach his house. There, on the front porch, Lee could see two Terran soldiers, dressed fully in their combat gear and armed with their deadly guns. Lee just quickened his pace as he saw the two Terrans turned their heads at hearing Helo's voice and began to move forward.

Lee was able to reach Karl before the Terrans did. He grabbed the man's shoulder and hold him there.

"Calm down, Helo, man. Just calm down!" He shouted into Karl's ears. Almost as loudly as the man's outburst. But Karl seemed not to hear it. He just kept shouting at the house.

"Sharon! Sharon!" He shouted, blinded by his emotion. Lee saw the two soldiers began to leave the porch and started walking toward them. He almost panicked, and his brain rapidly thought of something, anything to…….

"Karl!" Lee heard an unmistakable voice, he looked up and saw Sharon running pass the Terrans toward them, her eyes focused on Helo.

At this, Lee let go of Karl and he immediately grabbed Sharon into him. He hugged her tightly and buried his face into her hair. Lee just looked at them and didn't know what to said, much less think. But then Karl's head lifted up and shouted at the person behind her.

"You shouldn't arrive until next week! This isn't our agreement!" He spat the words, to Lee's surprise, in perfect English. Lee didn't know that Karl could speak English, and Karl never said anything to him about that fact.

"We send a message before that we'll rearrange the schedule for this month" The voice made him recognized its owner for the first time. Karl's outburst and his trying to prevent him from doing anything he'd surly planed to do have made him failed to see the other peoples that were now stood behind Sharon. There, stood a woman in a white cloth of a doctor, or a lab person he wasn't sure, and two men in the same cloth. The two soldiers lingered behind them with their guns. The young woman spoke on. "Beside, we didn't do anything to her when you weren't here. Isn't that our agreement?"

Karl started saying something, but Sharon stopped him. "It's alright Karl" She said, putting her hand on his cheek. She was smiling to reassure her husband, but Lee could see that she was feeling nervous also. "They didn't do anything. And Sam's here too"

Hearing that name made Lee registered another presence. There, on the porch, he could see the man very clearly. Samuel T. Anders was standing there, in civilian cloth, as always, looking nervously at the Terran soldiers. Lee looked at Anders for a while, before that woman's made him turned back to the scene before him.

"Mr. Agathon, I think we should go in and start our…." The young woman looked at Lee sternly. "Business, so that we could leave you all alone as soon as possible. Isn't that what you want?"

Karl looked at her and sighed. Sharon just gave him a reassuring look before all of them turned away and walked toward the house, leaving him behind. Lee sighed heavily, letting his nervousness out of his chest. He turned back and grabbed his duffle bag and started walking to the house. He didn't understand what was going on at all, and that left him feeling very frustrated inside. They had never mentioned anything about this, so the event left him a little bit startled. And when he looked into Anders's face, he knew that the man knew what's going on, and that made him felt………..he didn't know how he felt because of that. It was frustrating for him to don't know.

As he stepped onto the porch, the two soldiers were in a position on each side of the door. Guarding the house. They gazed him with that familiar don't-do-anything-stupid look, so he just sat on the chair there. Anders was already disappeared into the house before he reached the porch.

"Cadet?" Lee's head was jerked upward when he heard that. He saw one of the soldiers looking at him. He raised his eyebrows. The soldier simply pointed his gun to his duffle bag on the floor.

"Cadet?" He asked again.

"Navy" Lee answered, trying not to be rude. Army men were always trying to give navy cadets a hard time.

The man just smirked. "No matter. A cadet's a cadet"

Before anything could continue, the door was suddenly opened. Anders walked out of the house, an Ambrosia bottle in his hand. He looked nervously at the two soldiers, then at Lee.

"Come with me" He said simply and walked away. Lee sat there, looking at the two soldiers then back to Anders's back, and then decided to follow him.

Anders walked to the car, hopped into the driver seat before setting the bottle in the back seat. Lee got into the front passenger seat. Anders looked at him, his eyes unreadable, before he started the engine, and drove away from the house.

As the journey went on, so was the silence. Anders was focused on the road and didn't say anything to Lee at all. For Lee, he was anxious. Seeing Anders brought another person to his mind. Part of him felt guilty for temporarily forgot about her when he was so focused on the Agathons. And part of him felt relieves that he didn't have to see her. Only Starbuck could make him feel that way. He knew that she and Anders had broken up after he left to the Academy. And now he didn't know what to say to man that once married his…love.

Karl would never say anything about her. He was surprised when he first learned that she and Karl and Sharon stop speaking to each other not long after he left because going back on Galactica, Starbuck was maybe the only person the Agathons could called a friend. He asked Karl about her once, and Karl suddenly changed the subject. And he didn't pursue further because part of him was not ready to see her again.

And now, looking at Anders……

"So….." He started, but Anders cut in, his voice was on the edge. "We're going to see her" was his only reply.

And they sat their in silence as Anders drove into an obviously a mining community. Lee looked at Anders questioningly when he parked the car outside a rundown building. It was a second stories building, typically built with bar on the ground floor with a stair at its side that lead to the balcony of the first floor, which was obviously a living space.

Anders got out of the car with his Ambrosia and walked to the stair. He looked back and resumed his course once he saw that Lee was following him. Once there he started to pound the only door.

"Kara! It's Anders" His shouting was almost muted by the sound from the bar below.

"Go away!" Another shout replied Anders's from the other side of the door. Lee's nervousness went sky-rocketing at hearing that voice again.

"Com on, Kara. I got Ambrosia with me this time" Anders shouted again, his voice showed his desperation. He banged the door with more force.

"Go frak yourself!" Another reply. Anders stopped pounding the door and looked back at Lee. His eyes showed his uncertainness.

Lee swallowed. "Starbuck!" He shouted.

There was silence followed that. He and Anders looked at each other. Lee's frown match Anders folded mouth. Then the door started to open. There, at the door frame, was the woman he could never forget.

"Star…" Lee started calling her name, but he couldn't finish, because suddenly, and unexpectedly, her fist connected with his face.

End chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

The Others Stories

Disclaimer: most of the things in here are not my creations and it should stay that way.

A/N : OK. Since it's seem that my grammar didn't improve and neither it's good, I now ask anyone who are interested in beta this story. Just let me know. Thanks!

Chapter 3: Like Good Ole Time

Lee knew that Starbuck was a good fighter, but knowing it and actually experiencing it was a whole different story. The sheer force of her punch had sent him almost flying backward. The fact that Lee didn't expected to be punched by Starbuck and the force of her flying fist had combined into a disastrous result for Lee's own good. Lee's back hit the balcony's railing hard and caused it to make a very disturbing, almost cracking sound. If she had push a little more force to her fist, it might enough to make him fall from the balcony because of it. But alas, Starbuck was a tough woman, and now Lee got to experienced it by his own head as he was sliding down to the floor and leaned to the railing, unable to support himself. His head went spinning, his face ached beyond belief, and he felt like his nose and teeth were dangerously hanging loose from his head, ready to drop to the floor at any moment.

As he looked up, he saw that Anders was holding Starbuck, surly preventing her from further damaging his face. Starbuck's face was look too familiarly raged. Not a good sign if he was on the receiving end of it.

"Kara!" Anders yelled at her, almost screaming into her ears. "What the frak you think you're doing! Stop!" His hands were on her arms, trying to restraint her as best as he could against the force of the raged woman. Starbuck seemed oblivious to that though, as she was trying her best to get her fist where she want it to be. And every time she tried to pull away from him, Lee could see that Anders was getting angrier and angrier by her attempt.

Looking at the scene displayed before him, something in Lee snapped. Starbuck was Starbuck alright, but he was bloody damn sure that he didn't have to put up with this. She could punch the Colonel because he was an asshole. But this was too far! If she thought she could run away with this, playing with his guilt of turning his back on them for trying to make a life, Lee Adama would make sure she will regret it for the rest of her life. He didn't do anything wrong! He wasn't the only one that turn his back!

Bouncing back on his feet, he glared at her with angry face that matched her own, his fists clenched, ready to retaliate if he want to. To hell with not punching a woman. To hell with them if that what he would receive from his own brethrens. If she want a fight, he would make her see hell. But he couldn't. He knew if he did that, everything he had been fought and won for will be lost. He won't let them destroying his new life he tried so hard to make. He won't let one second to destroy his entire life.

He took a deep breath, a very deep breath. "What the fuck you think you're doing! Punching peoples around like this!"

Kara's face turned into a nasty sneer. "Oh. What's happened to the good ole frak? Are we no longer good enough for you, Apollo?"

"Don't call me that!" Lee's jaw clenched. "I'm no longer Apollo. Don't. Ever. Call. Me. That"

"I will call you whichever name I want"

"Shut up!" Anders's voice entered their battle. For a moment of that, Lee almost forgot that Anders's was still there. He was maybe the only one that could prevent this from bad to worse. "Shut up! Both of you!"

Ander's face showed anger. And Lee thought for a moment that Anders would join the fray. For gods' sake, he didn't. Instead, he turned around and released Kara. "Go back inside" He said to her simply and seriously.

Then Kara did something he was never thought that she would do. Her fist swung back and flying to Anders's face. Fortunately for the man, he was more aware of that than Lee. Anders grabbed her fist halfway through its cause. And Lee saw every muscle of his arm flexed, and his face…….

"I mean it. Go back inside" Anders said again. His face showed a very seriousness of the old leader of human resistant. And maybe Kara saw it too, and realized that he meant real. She looked up to his face for a moment, and then pulled her hands from his grip. She turned to Lee and pointed at him.

"He can't go in" She said simply. Why, Lee had no idea. But that was the first time that he noticed it. The smell of her was very strong. A far too familiar smell of Terrans cheap beers. It's in her breath, on her cloth. It was like that smell that stank to high heaven had ingrained itself into her. Looking at Anders, he saw that he too was breathing in a strange way. It was a series of very short breaths so that he wouldn't smell in the odor. And Lee was realized that he was starting to do the same.

Kara just turned her back and walking to her house, brushing Anders aside. Lee was about to walk to the door but Anders stop him.

"Don't" He said. "You heard her" He continued, and when he saw that Lee wasn't about to change his mind, he added in a whisper. "Please"

Lee looked at Anders. He was about to went inside, despite of what Kara's words earlier. But when he heard Anders's whisper, and his almost pleading tone, he stopped. He looked at Anders, and saw that he was really pleading him not to go inside. Lee looked pass him into the room, and saw a glimpse of pile of bottles. He looked at Anders again, then backed off and started sitting down, leaning to the railing. Anders sighed with relief, and then walked inside before closing the wooden door.

Lee didn't have to wait long though. As he was sitting there, he could hear the sound coming out from the apartment. It was getting louder and louder as the two peoples inside the apartment started shouting at each other. He couldn't make of what exactly they were saying, but it was getting nasty. Then the door swung open and Anders rush out from the apartment in rage.

"Yeah! I keep coming back to you. But you know what? I did that out of pity for you! You're pathetic!" He yelled before slammed the door shut and Lee heard the sound of glass shattered against it.

Anders then threw something at Lee. "Let's get back to the ranch" He said and turned to went down the stair without looking at Lee. Lee realized from the coldness against his hand that Anders had thrown a bag of ices to him. He got up, put the bag to his face and started followed him down to the car.

"Thanks" Lee mumbled through the bag. It sound strange, but he was sure that Anders could understand it. Anders said nothing though, he just started the car's engine and started to drove away.

"Is that why they don't want to talk about her?" Lee asked. Anders just kept silent. "They don't want me to see her like this?" Anders looked at him for the first time since they left Kara's place.

"You don't change as much as you think you are" Anders stated simply. "If you miss the news. The Universe doesn't evolve around you" He snickered.

Lee looked at Anders, annoyed. "Then what happened?"

Anders looked at the road, like he was thinking if he should tell Lee or not. At last, he spoke. "She said something she shouldn't" Then he stopped. "You have to ask them yourselves if you want the detail. But I don't blame them if they don't want to have anything to do with her"

"She's changed" Lee said to no one in particular.

"Everyone changed" Anders looked at Lee. "Everyone. You two love each other and now she punch you in the face"

Lee looked at Anders, his eyes wide. Anders just looked at the road. "I'm not a fool. I can put two and two together" He paused then shouted to the sky.

"Lee Adama Love Kara Thrace!" Anders smiled bitterly after that. "She does it well when she's drunk. It was fun at first, but too much of it make me annoyed. Did you really say that?"

"I don't love her!" Lee shot back at Anders, then added. "Not any longer" Lee then turned to look at the scenery.

"You're only speaking with anger" Anders spoke simply then turned to look at Lee. When he saw Lee's face, his eyes softened. "Aren't you?"

Lee put every force in his body to make the words leaving his mouth sound genuine. "I don't love her anymore" He said. "Peoples change. You said it yourself. I'm changed"

Anders just looked straight at the road ahead. "Yes, you are" He said simply as the car approaching the house. No words were exchanged after that. Lee was deep in his thought. He didn't know what he was supposed to say to Anders. Maybe he wasn't the one running to married Anders just after declaring his love to a different person, but he was also the one who sleep with his girlfriend in the first place. The whole mess created by he and Starbuck's actions had hurt many peoples, maybe far too more peoples that shouldn't get hurt in the first place. His life had been a mess, a part of life that he's now trying to leave it behind and move on. It was hard though, and he never expected it to be easy.

And now he was going to repair his relationship with the Agathons, and hopefully building something new between them. And for that, he might have to leave Starbuck behind. He asked himself if he could do it. He and Starbuck had been so close. She had been Zak's fiancé, his fellow Viper Pilot. They had been there for each other, when Zak'd died, when they were still on the run. And that had tightened their bond, making it grew from friendship into something else. Leaving her behind would like leaving a part of him, a part of his life. He asked himself; could he do it? _Could I leave her behind?_

Lee looked at Anders who was walking to the house beside him, seeing his still bitter expression. He remembered Dee's words and face, asking him if he was going to Starbuck when he asked her for a divorce. He was still feeling the ache on his face. And then, he saw Karl. He was lying on the chair on the porch, playing with his kids. Such simple scenery stopped him. Karl and Sharon had to fight hard to have this moment. They knew that it would be hard, but they fought for it nonetheless. And they never give up. Seeing them, Lee decided that he could do it. It might be for a different result for him and Starbuck. Seeing and remembering all of them, Lee knew that it was time to let go.

And the test had come earlier than he was expected. AS he and Anders were stepped on to the porch, for an unknown reason, Hera left the safety of her father to look at their visitors. The little girl walked toward them when Karl got up from the chair, Liam in his arm. Hera just stopped in front of Lee, looking up at him with her eyes. For a moment, Lee didn't know what to do. He looked at Karl and Anders, their face were like they were expecting him to break the little girl's neck. To their relief, Lee didn't do such thing, instead, he picked Hera up and holding her, their eyes met. The little girl grabbed Lee's face with her hands. Lee winced when she touched his nose. That made Karl noticed Lee's bloody face.

"What happened?" He asked. Before Lee or Anders could answer though, he guessed it on his own. Karl just shook his head. "Don't tell me. I don't want to know about that" For some reason, Lee thought that it was also meant that he didn't want to hear about the person who did it.

Suddenly, Lee's stomach growled, which made him remembered that he didn't eat anything since he left Elbe for New Caprica. Anders just snickered at that.

Karl looked amused and said the mercy word. "Lucky for you. It's dinner time already" With that, he turned and walked inside the house. Lee was about to followed him in when Anders's voice cut in.

"Well, I think I should go back to the bunkhouse" He said while pointing his thumb back at the little shed faraway that Lee just realized that it was there. Karl didn't allow that though.

"Nonsense, Sam. You just come back. Eat with us tonight, or I will have Sharon go after you"

Anders just laughed at that. The atmosphere of tension and bitterness that surrounded him moment ago seemed to be gone. Anders just walked pass Lee and went inside the house alongside Karl with Lee trailing behind them.

When Lee was inside the house, he was shocked. Despite the very simple design outside, the interior was a whole different territory. While still kept the country house atmosphere, everything inside the house were screaming of money. He saw the living room, and knew that it would cost a fortune with its surly imported carpet, the sofas and that big screen T.V. hanging on the wall. But what caught his eyes was a big portrait on the wall. It was a portrait of the Agathons; Karl, Sharon, Hera and Liam. They looked happy, very happy.

Lee's eyes darted back from the portrait to see Anders standing before him.

"They're rich?"

Anders just snickered. "He didn't tell you that?" Anders just turned back and walking along the hallway. "Come on, they're waiting"

Dumbfounded, Lee followed. In the kitchen, he was greeted with the smell of foods. Lots of foods.

"Lee" Sharon walked from her chair toward him and stretched her arms out. Lee gave Hera to her. The little girl was very eager to get out from his arm to be in her mother's. "Sharon" He said, then added. "It's good to see you"

She nodded and returned to her chair and put Hera on the baby-chair beside Liam. They didn't talk a thing about the afternoon so he kept quiet about that. If they didn't want to talk about it, then he wouldn't. He just sat down and started eating.

"Don't you think it's weird?" Anders's talking brought Lee up from his plate. He was talking to Karl. "I mean, you and Sharon, me and" He looked at Lee "Lee. Sitting here together, eating dinner" He finished it by putting a piece of grilled chicken into his mouth.

Lee agreed with Anders on that. Before all of this, he would never imagine that the four of them would sit together and shared a meal. Anders maybe, but Karl and Sharon, he sure he wouldn't.

Karl sipped some Ambrosia before he answered. "Well, I admit that I had never imagined this. But hey! We have something in common" He raised his glass into a mocking toast. "We are all working with the Terrans. Cheer for them! Because we wouldn't be here together without them"

Lee looked at Anders. "You work with the Terrans?"

A fork full of salad hung in mid air by his question. "In a way" He answered, looking strangely uncomfortable with his question. Lee was about to ask him what he mean by that, but Karl came to Anders's rescue.

"He's working for me. So in a way, he's working with the Terrans" Lee didn't satisfied by that. He knew that Karl was telling him the truth, but not all of it.

Sharon then interjected. Perhaps because she was feeling that the conversation was heading toward an uncomfortable territory. It's work though, because her question made him forget all of it.

"What about the ceremony tomorrow?"

Now, that question made him feel uncomfortable. He was almost forgot about the reason he was here in the first place. The decommissioning ceremony of the Galactica was the reason why he was sent here, to participate in the ceremony, partly as a representative from the Terran's military and partly as a symbol of a new era for the colonials, or so they said when he was receiving the order.

Instead of flying the Viper like the first ceremony, he was to give a speech. He didn't feel uncomfortable because of it. He had already worked out the speech, and then relayed it to the New Caprica Advisory Council for screening before he left Elbe as he was ordered to.

But it was the idea that the colonials, his people, will fully see him in the Terran uniform that startled him, and he was sure that the speech wouldn't endear him to them. And then there was his father……

"He didn't mean what he said" Lee heard Sharon said. He looked at her then answered her question. "I know" Sharon just smiled, but he could see that she felt sorry for him.

When Karl saw that the question had changed the subject away from Anders, he changed the subject again, asking about the Academy and the planet, Elbe, that it was located in. And Lee gave in, forgetting about tomorrow, and today.

The conversation went on, with the sound of laughing, glasses clicking, and the familiar taste of Ambrosia. It was like when pilots were having a good time with their colleagues when their shifts were over.

Like in the good old time.

And for them, maybe better.

End Chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

The Others Stories

Disclaimer: most of the things in here are not my creations and it should stay that way.

A/N : OK. Since it's seem that my grammar didn't improve and neither it's good, I now ask anyone who are interested in beta this story. Just let me know. Thanks!

Chapter 4: Déjà vu

_BSG-75 Galactica_, New Caprica Orbit

Useless.

Useless. That was how he was feeling lately. William Adama was useless, like the Battlestar that now just hung limply in space above New Caprica. A year and a half, a year and a half of doing nothing but walking aimlessly inside the _Galactica_. The Battlestar was still packed with peoples, but it's not his crews, nor was they Colonials.

For a year and a half, the Terrans on this ship were doing nothing but ravaging the ship. They'd first removed the nukes, naturally. He'd expected that. But then it was followed by the FTL Drive, all of the batteries, Vipers after Vipers and so on and on. Nowadays, the ship was just stripped of everything. There were holes where it once filled by computers. The CIC had turned into a mess of hanging wires and more holes. The_ Galactica_ was stripped and raped in front of him. And he could do nothing about it.

He'd protested, ordered, everything, and he had been perpetually ignored. They were still calling him Admiral though, for want of a better term to call him. And ironically, he was still the Admiral, the only Admiral left of the military that had already ceased to exist. The Terran had put him in a state of limbo.

And now, after a year and a half, when the ship was on the verge of breaking down, they had decided to 'officially' decommission her. It wasn't even the decision of the 'local government' down there, since the ship had been long sold to the Terrans for a pittance. Not unlike the first time, the only fate awaiting Galactica after decommissioning would be towing to some place and been scrap and sale off in order to pay back the increasing debt New Caprica was in, like the _Pegasus_ and civilian ships before that.

To the top of that, they wanted him to give a speech. A speech!

What could he say? What could he say about this dishonorable farce of a ceremony? What could he say about the ship that had been raped again and again for over a year only to be cruelly destroyed in the end? What could he say about the hope that had turned into a twisted nightmare? And most of all, what could, would, he say to his son?

The thought of Lee brought regret to his heart. Twice times that he and his remaining son had drifted apart. First it was over Zak. The second time, he feared that they would eventually and completely falling apart. And this time, he might have only himself to blame.

"Admiral?" A voice was calling him.

He looked up and saw a face that he thought that he would never see again.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"So how're you doing at the Academy?"

"Good, sir" Lee answered. Captain William McLeod was not the man Lee expected to be the commander of the ships that stationed over New Caprica, or to Anders's words, the man who held New Caprica hostage.

He had imagined the Captain to be stiff, cold and arrogance, since he'd heard from the rumor mill on Elbe that Captain McLeod was a cadet branch from some noble family back on Terra. Instead, Captain McLeod was a very laidback and easy-going man. His second-in-command though, was a different story. Commander von Papen was a very stiff man who could see a single dirty spot on one uniform from the entire Fleet.

"_It's the lad's Prussian trait"_ Captain McLeod told him once in front of his stoic Commander, though Lee didn't have a clue of what he meant.

He'd welcomed Captain McLeod and Commander von Papen onboard the _Galactica_. Since he was living there for years, part of his order was to be a guide for them.

The maze like corridor of the ship was still the same. He knew the ship like he knew his own backhand. But when he was walking alongside the Captain, he didn't feel the same. _Galactica _was different. He could still tell Captain of what's what on the ship. But it wasn't like the same ship.

For one, he couldn't recognize any faces in the corridor. Second, the ship was like it had gone through a raid. The Vipers were missing, as well as the Raptors. The CIC was empty with most of its computers gone. The mess hall was empty, and he meant empty. Despite full of people, the _Galactica_ was empty, a mere shell of once it had been.

And to think that his father had to live here for a year……

"Cadet!" Lee jerked at the voice that seemed to come from somewhere faraway, but when he looked at Captain McLeod and his commander, he knew that he had stopped talking for a while now, lost in his own thought.

Captain McLeod seemed to be amused by his behavior though.

"You were faraway cadet. Wherever you were, I hope it's pleasant"

Lee was about to apologize but McLeod just cut him off and started walking past him while von Papen shot him a glare.

"How's your father?"

Lee kept his emotion from his face when answering that question.

"I don't know, sir. I didn't talk to him for more than a year"

Captain McLeod turned to him and curved a corner of his mouth a bit, like he was about to smile. But he turned away and kept walking.

"I didn't ask about your father's health, cadet. I want to know what kind of person is your father"

A picture of his father in the CIC flashed in his head before he answered.

"He's a good soldier, sir. Stubborn maybe, but he takes care of his men, sir"

Lee looked at McLeod only to find the Captain was looking at him, his lip smiled, his eyes unreadable. Captain McLeod just smiled

"A good soldier then"

Lee didn't know what's that suppose to mean.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Admiral"

Bill looked up and saw a face that he thought he might never see again.

Laura Roslin.

She was standing there. In her always neat suit, and looked beautiful as always. She didn't changed much from the last time they'd met.

He stood up from his chair and offered his hand. She took it, but he knew that she was hesitated about that.

"Madam Vice-President"

She winced at his words. He was so polite, so cold.

"Bill…" She started, but he cut her off.

"Please, sit"

She signed and sat. Maybe this wasn't the right time. She had a duty to do.

"How're you then" He asked. It was polite, too polite.

"I'm fine, really. What about….."

"And President Zarek?"

Her jaw clenched. He didn't make this easy for her at all.

"He's fine"

"Good then"

She took a deep breath, suppressing her frustration. She didn't surprise at all. He'd never returned her calls, never write back, nothing, and seeing Galactica like this, it made her ache for this man in front of her. Now he was so cold, so indifferent. This was not William Adama that she knew.

"I'm here to take part as the representative of the government"

He lurked his eyebrows but said nothing. She signed. Maybe it was a good idea to go straight to business here. They could talk later.

"And after this" She looked at him hard. "We want you to be our security advisor"

She stared at him, trying to read his expression. So far, she saw nothing.

And she didn't think that was a good thing.

"What about Saul?" He said simply, as if what she'd just offered him meant nothing.

Laura was surprised. This wasn't the reaction that she had expected from him.

"He's head of the Police Department. What we want is the security advisor"

"And the Terrans?"

"We're still not inform them of this yet. But as far as we know, the treaty……" She was referring to the Galactica Treaty. The treaty that end everything and start everything "provide us the ability to create any government posts we like. And we want you to be our security advisor"

He took a bottle from his drawer, looked at it, ignoring her.

"Bill…."

"I already have another plan"

Laura hated this part. The part of trying to reasoning him.

"You don't have another plan, Bill. Tell me, what will you do down there"

"I can find a job…"

She shook her head. Adama men were so stubborn.

"What job then? Bill….there're no longer a retirement fund. And your son is not here any….."

She stopped. She knew that she'd just screwed up, big time. Bill had just stopped pouring Ambrosia to his glass. He shot an angry look at her, warning her not to go there…… Honestly? She didn't know whether or not that she should be happy that at least he showed that he still has emotion left in him.

"I'm sorry……Please, Bill. We need you"

He looked at her, trying to decide that if this was another of her plan. But those words struck him.

_They need him._

Before he could answer though, the hatch opened and three persons walked inside. Bill looked at one of them and didn't know what to say.

"Dad"

His son was standing there. And no matter how much he had grown up, Lee was still that little kid pretending he was flying the Viper. For that moment, nothing was more important. Not the Terrans, not the Galactica, not Laura. His son was standing there, and that's what important.

But then he saw the other two, and everything shattered.

"Mr.Adama"

McLeod said, his face smiling. Lee walked forward and started to introducing them.

"Mr. William Adama" Lee choked those words out of his mouth. He knew that his father was no longer in the military, but calling him by that name still made him feel uneasy.

"Captain William McLeod"

They shook hands and Lee was surprised to hear his father greeting McLeod in English. Primitive, but still English.

"And Vice President Laura Roslin"

Laura offered her hand, but instead of shaking it, he grabbed it and kissed her hand.

"My pleasure to meet you, Ms. Roslin"

Lee looked at his father, but Bill just looked at the second person. A woman, tall and very beautiful, but Lee knew from her eyes that she was much more than her look. And he suspected that Laura knew that too.

She smiled and offered her hand to his father.

"Henrietta Silvers" She introduced herself in, to the surprise of both Lee and Bill, Colonial language. "It was very nice to meet you at last Mr. Adama. Laura here speak very highly of you"

Bill looked at Laura.

"She's one of the Advisory Council" Laura said defensively. Why, Lee didn't know.

"Specialty in Economic" She said energetically, her smile never left her face.

"Nice to meet you too, Ms.Silvers" His father said and let her hand go, though Lee was sure that she'd held his father's hand longer than usual. He looked at the former president and saw her face blank.

_This is not good. _He thought.

Henrietta was oblivious, or acted oblivious. Then McLeod cut in.

"I'm afraid that I have something very important to talk to Ms. Silvers here. Could we have a moment alone, please?"

It was not a request. He knew it, Laura knew it, and his father knew it.

And that's why they left the room.

Once they were in the corridor, Lee and his father was staring at each other. Laura looked at Lee, and then looked at Bill. She felt sad for them, but she could do nothing. This was their family, not hers.

"See you at the ceremony then. It's good to see you again, Major" She said teasingly, then walked away.

Lee smiled at her and nodded. When she was disappeared around the corner, he turned to look at his father, his eyes waiting.

Bill knew from Lee's eyes that his son won't be the one who start this. He signed. How could he let this thing happen again?

"You look good in the uniform, son"

Lee face was still blank when he responded.

"I'm surprise, dad. The last time I told you I will wear this uniform you didn't look thrill about it"

"That's not fair"

"No, it's not. I'm just trying to make a life. What's wrong with that?" Lee cut his words off. His face reddened.

_This is getting out of control._

"Don't start this Lee. I'm not……"

"Do not order me around!" Lee shouted at his face. "If you not notice. You're no longer an Admiral, dad"

Bill stared at Lee face. But Lee didn't care. He didn't care any longer.

"You called me a traitor!" Lee spat the word at his face. Bill grimaced.

"I just want to continue the only way of life that I know how to live. Thanks to you" Lee said sarcastically. "And you called me a traitor because of it"

"Please, Lee" He was pleading. He didn't want to lose his son again. "I'm only talking in anger"

"I know that, dad" For a moment, Bill felt that there was still hope. It was squashed when his son continued. "But it's hurt nonetheless"

Bill shook his head. "Why can't you let it go, Lee?"

He looked at Lee. The young man looked at him back, shock, then angry.

"I don't believe this" Lee said. He looked at his father, his face was twisted by anger "You called me a traitor. You're my father. MY FATHER!"

Lee brought his hand up. His thumb was a few millimeters from his finger.

"I thought it was this close" He showed Bill his hand "This close that you will apologize for calling me a traitor"

His hand fell to his side. Lee looked at him, his face returned to that unreadable, expressionless face again.

"You never change, father. And I'm such a fool"

Lee then turned and started walking away.

Bill just looked at his son's back. His son was walking away, from his life, and he couldn't do anything to stop him.

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The hatch was closed. The sound 'click' resonated through the quiet room.

McLeod walked to Adama's chair and sat down. The smile was still on his face, but it's no longer reached his eyes. He looked at Henrietta who was looking at one of the paintings.

"So, how's your brother?"

"Which one?" He asked her back, his tone was more cold and calculated.

Henrietta turned to face him, a grin brightened her feature.

"You baby brother. I heard that he's now….shall we say, quite in the inner circle. If you know what I mean"

McLeod snickered.

"He, they, weren't forced into doing what they don't want to do"

She walked to the table he was sitting at sat opposite from him.

"Never mind" She said casually. "What do you find out about Adama?"

"I thought that you're going to find that out by yourself"

Her smile became broader. She picked up a pencil and started tapping it to the table. No doubt, he find it very irritating.

"A new friend's always welcome"

_Of course_, he thought, _Friend_.

"So?"

"He's a good soldier"

"And that's not a good thing?"

"No if he's not _our_ good soldier"

She dropped the pencil. And he grabbed it away from her.

"We don't want more troubles"

"Do you think he'll accept that offer?"

She picked up a pen and he almost groaned.

"He will" She said, and he knew that was true. "He has nowhere else to go"

"Then there's a high chance you will have more troubles"

"Do you think they want to rebel?"

McLeod just shrugged at her question. When he answered, his tone was colder than ever.

"That is of no consequences. We will show them, like we showed the Americans, the Indians and the Boers, that leaving the Empire is not an option"

End Chapter


	5. Chapter 5

The Others Stories

Disclaimer: most of the things in here are not my creations and it should stay that way.

Chapter 5: Loyalty

_Starboard Landing Bay, BSG-75 GALACTICA_

_Decommissioning Ceremony._

The peoples in the starboard were there for many reasons. First, there were the Terrans, who were there mostly out of curiosity, or see the ceremony as one of the obliged social gathering. Then, there were the Colonials, who were there mostly because they were forced to. And the two groups were divided by an invisible wall.

Karl Agathon sat at the far corner of the starboard, observing both groups from afar. On one side of the starboard, the Terrans were mingling among themselves, using the ceremony as the opportunity to catching up with their fellows or make a business deal out of it. In essence, they were having an afternoon party. This was in contrast to the Colonials, who kept a tangible distance from the Terrans, and clearly were in no mood to celebrate. They were murmuring, whispering among themselves and looking around anxiously as if they don't want to be there at all. Which might be true.

And he was sitting here, distancing themselves from both.

It wasn't like he hated the Terrans. As owner of one of the biggest business on New Caprica, that mean he have to work with the Terrans. And from those contacts, he knew that the Terrans aren't that different from the Colonials. They may value different things and worship different gods, or god, but they aren't that different.

And he couldn't hate them. Not when the Terrans had brought back his daughter that he thought were dead.

How could he hate the peoples who bring his family back together while his own peoples had tried so hard to break it apart?

And for his own peoples, the Colonials. That was a whole different story.

Suddenly, he felt a presence behind his back and turned to see Anders standing behind him, Hera in his arm and Sharon beside him.

"Hey" Karl spoke. "You're back"

"Hey" Sharon returned his greet and sat down at an empty chair beside him. She leaned over and they shared a light kiss. When they broke the kiss, she retrieved Liam from his arm.

"I missed you already" He said, and it was true. He did miss her all the time.

Sharon made a funny look and laughed. "I was just gone for five minutes!" She exclaimed. Five minutes ago, Hera had just decided that she has to let all the apple juice she drank in the morning go, so Sharon had to take her away with Anders as her 'assistance'.

Karl chuckled. "I know. But I still miss you anyway" He said and gave her another kiss.

"Oh, look what we got here"

A voice from behind them suddenly broke the moment. Karl didn't have to look up to see who it was. The voice was familiar and the tone was still the same. A bit of drunken slur, disgust and hostility mix together. It was all too familiar to forget anyway. He stood up and faced the New Caprica Police Captain in the face.

"Captain" He said a bit threateningly. Aside from his eye patch, Saul Tigh didn't change much from the last time he saw the man, except that now he seem more bitter and angrier than before. His hostility toward him and Sharon didn't change either, but now it was expanded to include everyone around his family too.

"Are you threatening an officer, Agathon?" Tigh sneered and took a step closer. Seeing that, both Sharon and Anders stood up from their chairs behind Karl. Their arms hold Liam and Hera protectively. Though Karl knew that Tigh wouldn't do anything to harm his children, or would he do anything to cause a scene in a place full of Terrans, he won't take any chance either. He won't let anyone hurt his family he tried so hard to build.

"You love this right, Agathon? Being on the other side…" Tigh said while walking closer toward them. Karl could see that the man had been drinking before, and moved to stood between his family and Tigh. The man was just walking and continued speaking, despite that many peoples in the landing bay had now turned to look at them. "First you frak with that Cylon of yours, and now you're a Terran's lap dog. Tell me, Agathon. Do you having fun from all of this?"

When he finished, Tigh was just a few step from the Agathons. Karl was now ready to strike the man down if necessary. Tigh just looked past him to Liam and Hera.

"I see that…"

"I think that is enough, Captain"

Tigh turned back to see who'd ordered him. He saw the owner of the voice, one Henrietta Silvers. Her hand held the arm of Lee Adama quite lovingly, too lovingly in fact.

Unfortunately, Saul Tigh was never the one to back down easily.

"Sure like hell it's enough. This man had threatened a police officer" He protested.

Henrietta was just about to counter, but Lee cut in. His eyes stared at Tigh coldly. "I think you are alone on this, Captain" He said simply. Lee was never fond of the man, and seeing all of this, he was sure that Tigh had gone too far.

Tigh looked at Lee. He saw the uniform Lee was in and Henrietta holding his arm. He smiled with disgust.

"Look at you now, Adama. Running around in that uniform, being their lap dog. The old man was doing the right thing cutting you off him"

Karl could see even from his position that Lee had tensed up, but Lee kept his calm and stared at Tigh even colder.

"You're a drunk bigot, Tigh" He spoke, every words meant to cut the man in front of him down to pieces. "You're a fraked up drunker who couldn't do anything right without my father pulling the leash on you collar. Even now, in that new uniform of yours, you still a parasite who live on my father's expenses"

Lee's words struck Tigh like a thunder bolt. He took a few steps back, looking shocked and, mostly, horrified by Lee's choice of words. Karl, too, was feeling uneasy by Lee's sudden outburst. Tough he said it in a cool demeanor; it was obvious that Lee had just lashed out his anger at Tigh. The group fell silent, and Karl was sure that everyone, except Henrietta's bemused looked, was somewhat shocked by Lee's words.

"You. All of you" Tigh said, looking back and forth between Lee and the Agathons. His voice was shaken by anger, as well as his hands. He stared at Lee for a short moment, his eyes showed nothing but anger and hatred, then he walked away, making peoples made way for him like Moses and Red Sea.

"I don't understand why you keep that drunkard as your police chief, but you peoples always make us surprise anyway"

Henrietta said, then freed herself from Lee's arm and walked toward Karl.

"Karl!"

She exclaimed, her arms opened and embraced Karl.

"Henrietta!" He said, hugging her. "How's the wine I send over?"

"Very good. Very good. Almost like Bordeaux itself!" She smiled and turned to Sharon and gave her that Terran friendly kisses.

Leaving Sharon, and especially Sam, to deal with Henrietta, he turned to Lee.

"Hey" Karl said and Lee just nodded. Standing before him wasn't the man that had just pounded Tigh into pieces anymore, he noted. Lee was now looking very nervous, and he knew why. Lee was dreaded about giving a speech. And that's why he and Sharon and Sam were there. Lee had asked him to, and they'd accepted. They're friends now, he thought.

"I, ah, saved seats for you guys at the front" Lee said. "I just…"

"I know Lee. Don't worry, we'll be there"

Lee looked relief, and smiled. Then there was an announcement that the ceremony will begin in a very short time. Lee looked at the stage, and looked up as if he was praying to the Lords. Karl followed his eyes, and saw that the Admiral, former Admiral, was already sitting on the stage, alongside the high keys of New Caprica, which included, to his disdain, Vice-President Laura Roslin.

"It'll be O.K" Sharon's voice brought him back to the peoples beside him. Sharon was putting a hand on Lee's shoulder to give him support. He thought that the scene was surreal. Years ago, Lee had put a gun at her head, and now they're friends. Who would have thought that Lee Adama will count a Cylon as his friend?

This was surreal.

_

* * *

__NEW CAPRICA_

_On the way to Agathons Household. _

The Ceremony was dull as he'd expected. Karl thought as he drove the jeep to his house. There was nothing special, nothing unexpected. Everything was dull, so devoid of lives, so….impersonal.

And he could understand why. The Terrans could careless about the ship. For them, Galactica mean nothing. They saw only the ship, not peoples who'd spend their lives onboard, not the stories of lives and sacrifices made on that ship. But they did have the reason for this ceremony.

He had sat there, listening to the priest lifting the burden off of the Galactica, praying for the fallen. But that was not important to them. What important to them was the two last speeches.

Lee had first stepped to the podium, in his Terran uniform. He could felt the eyes of the Colonials descended to the former CAG. And he knew that Lee could felt it too. That's why Lee never looked at the Colonials. He looked at Karl and Sharon and Sam and gave his prepared speech, about a new era, cooperation and a chance to live a live. A speech he was sure that the Terrans had edited and gave it back to Lee before the ceremony.

But the most important of all was the speech of his father. As the Admiral stepped to the podium, he could understand why the Terrans want this ceremony to happen. Seeing the Admiral on that podium brought back the memory of the first ceremony. Karl had had an inkling of hope, which he was sure that all the Colonials there had, that the Admiral would give them another of his unprepared speech. That he would denounce the Terrans and give them another hope.

But when he read the Terrans prepared speech which was not different from the one Lee had read before, it had rang home to the Colonials better than a thousand guns or nukes that this is it.

This is it. There will be no more Galactica. No more Admiral Adama and his soldiers and his vipers and his plan. They're stuck with the Terrans.

THIS.IS.IT.

After that was a blur for him. Most of the lights on Galactica had went off, the symbol of resting the ship to peace. They had said good bye to Lee, who would go off with another ship to his assigned post, somewhere in the vast Terran Empire. Then they went back to the planet, not with the Colonials of course. Henrietta had insisted that they gone off with her on her shuttle (or the shuttle that was assigned to her).

He smiled as he thought of what happened on the shuttle. Sam had to evade her all of the journey. He was quite sure that she wasn't serious, but Sam didn't know, which made it a funny scene.

"Hey babe" Sharon said from his side, waking from her slumber.

"Hey. We're almost home now"

"How's the kids"

"Sleeping" He said and looked at the rearview mirror. Hera and Liam were both sleeping in their baby seats, with Sam sat sleeping in the middle.

He smiled and looked at the house which they were closer now. Then, on the front porch, he could see a figure sitting on it. As they got closer, his curiosity rose. The figure was sure a woman, a young woman which gave him a strange familiar feeling that almost creeping him out.

As he parked the jeep in front of his house, he could see who it was. He was just looking at her from his driver seat, unable to move. Sharon looked at the woman, gasping. She whispered so softly, almost to herself, calling her name.

"Boomer"

End Chapter

A/N Frak! This chapter takes me longer than expected to finish. Sorry for the long time, you all readers.

To answer some question. Yes and no, it's a little bit more complicated than the British take over the world and expand to space. It will be further explained later on.


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